The Ashes | 5th Test | Sydney | Day 4 | 6/1/11

[Sahil.]

England is now a completely different team under Andy Flower & Strauss. Anderson has matured into a quality fast bowler, one of the best in the world. Tremlett looks awesome, Swann is the best spinner in the world. If Graeme Onions can return from injury then England will have one the best attacks in the world, especially when the ball swings.

We bat down to 9 or 10 & every batsman is scoring big runs with the exception of Collingwood who has just retired. Like I've said earlier, if we can beat a Pakistan side at home who had Amir & Asif bowling in swinging conditions, we can thrash the Indian pie throwers into a pulp.

England victory for me.

Its good to see that the English fans are very optimistic about there teams chances against India . However I dont think your series against India will be as easy as you had against depleted sides such as Pakistan and Australia . India has a very strong batting line up compared to Pakistan and in case of serious trouble, they are more than capable of drawing the match , if not winning it . England hasnt won a series against India in the last 14 years while Indians have won twice, which is due to the inability of English bowlers to bowl out the Indians cheaply . English can surprise the best team during an odd series yet they remain just an ordinary side in the long run . You beat the Aussies ( Strongest ever Test Team) convincingly in 2005 , and in the following year lost to both Pakistan as well as India and the 5-0 humiliating beating against Australia .

Indians have already played against most of your current bowlers such as Tremlett , Swann , Anderson so there is nothing in your line up that can surprise us as was the case against Australia .

 

[Sahil.]

Or maybe Australians are looking so poor because English team have grown a lot stronger than before. Its all about the wording.

Indians can harp about their last series victory all day long and think beating England in England will be walk in park, but England on the other might repeat their Ashes performance if they put their hearts and minds into defeating number one test team in their own backyard, just like they are doing this in the current Ashes series.

You won against the strongest Australian side during the 2005 Ashes , started whining again but kept on losing to teams such as Pakistan , India and Australia during the follow up. An odd exceptional performance here and there yet fail to succeed in the longer run . Winning against the all time weakest Australian side in the history of cricket doesnt make your team a big force that can displace the Giants from the number 1 position. Crown is Ours

 

[Sahil.]

I don't see any Indian team thrashing us in our home conditions.

This is a very very strong English side. Granted we are garbage but they are very strong and very disciplined.

Thats largely due to your weakness in Cricket . Ponting at an all time low , unheard debutants like Beer / Khwaja given chances in Series such as Ashes , fans calling for return of retired " Warne" , speaks a lot about the quality of the side that the Englishmen beat

 

[malakian]

Its good to see that the English fans are very optimistic about there teams chances against India . However I dont think your series against India will be as easy as you had against depleted sides such as Pakistan and Australia . India has a very strong batting line up compared to Pakistan and in case of serious trouble, they are more than capable of drawing the match , if not winning it . England hasnt won a series against India in the last 14 years while Indians have won twice, which is due to the inability of English bowlers to bowl out the Indians cheaply . English can surprise the best team during an odd series yet they remain just an ordinary side in the long run . You beat the Aussies ( Strongest ever Test Team) convincingly in 2005 , and in the following year lost to both Pakistan as well as India and the 5-0 humiliating beating against Australia .

Indians have always played against most of your current bowlers such as Tremlett , Swann , Anderson so there is nothing in your line up that can surprise us as was the case against Australia .

Agreed that India has a strong batting lineup, however if Anderson bowls like he did last summer, i honestly think he could run through any side, in swinging conditions he is near unplayable IMHO.

Re 2005, it's clear that England took their eyes off the ball after they defeated the Australians, we were also ravaged by injury.

I agree that India will be a much more tougher examination than Pak or Aus, but then the only batsmen i fear in their side are SRT, VVS & Sehwag. Plus the bowling attack isn't anything special at all. Zaheer is the only world class pacer & he isn't getting any younger. Ishant is garbage, Sreesanth is average, Harbhajan is out of form & has been rubbish all year.

Basically i think England has a much clearer advantage in bowling, batting wise India has the advantage, but the gap isn't as wide as the bowling.

 

[MC]

Its good to see that the English fans are very optimistic about there teams chances against India . However I dont think your series against India will be as easy as you had against depleted sides such as Pakistan and Australia . India has a very strong batting line up compared to Pakistan and in case of serious trouble, they are more than capable of drawing the match , if not winning it . England hasnt won a series against India in the last 14 years while Indians have won twice, which is due to the inability of English bowlers to bowl out the Indians cheaply . English can surprise the best team during an odd series yet they remain just an ordinary side in the long run . You beat the Aussies ( Strongest ever Test Team) convincingly in 2005 , and in the following year lost to both Pakistan as well as India and the 5-0 humiliating beating against Australia .

Indians have always played against most of your current bowlers such as Tremlett , Swann , Anderson so there is nothing in your line up that can surprise us as was the case against Australia .

Seems like you are new to cricket, check out performance of English cricket in last two years and then tell me whether they're wining an odd series here and there or naturally improving and moving forward?

Heard all that yapping before about England beating weak Pakistani side for sake of it, but they won't be able to beat mighty Australians in Australia, now they finally did in the most stunning manner, we gonna be bombarded with chants of India being so out of this world for next six months. But you know what, I actually want to see Indian team taking England side so lightly... it'll be fun

 

[Robert]

Poms arent even that good a side , India will thrash them at their own home home next year

Let me just record that for future reference.

Smacks of "Australia will beat England 5-0".

England hasnt won a series against India in the last 14 years

And England didn't win in Australia for 24 years, until they did.

 

[James]

I think Tremlett cleaning up Mitchell Johnson first ball might just be my champagne moment for the series. Quite a few Englishmen around the world must have hit the ceiling after that one. It just worked on so many levels.

 

[James]

I think England will beat Sri Lanka and India next summer. They have been clever and consistent with selection over the last two years, and allowed pretty much all of their players to reach top form at the same time, so much so that they are playing a pretty much invincible brand of cricket at the moment.

Even if the subcontinental batsmen manage to counter Swann on English wickets, a tough ask for starters, we have a simply awesome 6'8 new ball bowler in Tremlett, and in Anderson and Bresnan, two bowlers that can obtain genuine reverse swing relatively early in the innings, at pace.

In 2010 England have mastered the test match victory against the swinging ball, on the seaming track, and on the flat pitch - three very different challenges. Their only weakness seems to be on bouncy tracks, and we aren't going to be rolling out any of those at home anytime soon. England for number 1!

 

[MC]

People talk so much about players and decades old series, but they don't realise England's main strength lies in their mangement. You see people rubbing the post 2005 Ashes performances, but they forget to mention that the current set up has also won 2009 Ashes and now on ther verge of winning the series in Australia in 24 years. Why talk about England going off the track in 2005 when they are currently holding themselves together so remarkably despite the success?

 

[saj786]

I think England will beat Sri Lanka and India next summer. They have been clever and consistent with selection over the last two years, and allowed pretty much all of their players to reach top form at the same time, so much so that they are playing a pretty much invincible brand of cricket at the moment.

Even if the subcontinental batsmen manage to counter Swann on English wickets, a tough ask for starters, we have a simply awesome 6'8 new ball bowler in Tremlett, and in Anderson and Bresnan, two bowlers that can obtain genuine reverse swing relatively early in the innings, at pace.

In 2010 England have mastered the test match victory against the swinging ball, on the seaming track, and on the flat pitch - three very different challenges. Their only weakness seems to be on bouncy tracks, and we aren't going to be rolling out any of those at home anytime soon. England for number 1!

the acid test for the english seamerswill be the great indian batters, tendulkar arguably the greatest ever batsmen is still strong, as for england if they stick with the current seamers and not play the vastly overrated broad then they've got agood chance, because face it swann will be meat and drink for india and if u include trundler broad with him then india will swamp england

 

[mastermind_quad]

lets guess how many overs/minute England will take tomorrow to Finish the tail......My guess is 11 overs

 

[Taurus]

People talk so much about players and decades old series, but they don't realise England's main strength lies in their mangement. You see people rubbing the post 2005 Ashes performances, but they forget to mention that the current set up has also won 2009 Ashes and now on ther verge of winning the series in Australia in 24 years. Why talk about England going off the track in 2005 when they are currently holding themselves together so remarkably despite the success?

Since Flower was made permanent coach, I'm not sure England have even lost a Test series. They haven't lost much at all, in fact. They did of course lose in the West Indies when Flower was the emergency coach after the Pietersen-Moores fiasco. What they have shown is a lot of professionalism, a ruthless edge to weed out the weak players, as well as the critical ability to develop the players currently within the squad. Apart from Strauss, Collingwood and Pietersen I would say everyone has improved (and those three have only failed to improve either because of age or character traits). I'm not going to predict who will win out of England or India but I would be surprised if England lost. They will be organised and well led. India probably have better players to pick from but England will bowl and field better than India.

 

[Savak]

I think Flower and Strauss have combined to make England an even more ambitious team. I mean seriously their preperation for this aussie tour has just been perfect, the way they have planned for each and every Aussie batsman, bowler, sweat tests to determine who should be given the shining duties to get the old ball to reverse, to beat Australia in Australia 3 times that also by an innings. This England team if they play with the same ruthlessness and dont let the success of this series get to their heads can become the best side in the world.

I am pretty certain if the English go to India, they will be as ruthless in their preperation for the subcontinent as well and will leave no effort to counter Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Zaheer Khan.

So far England has the edge over India right now.

 

[Cover Drive]

Game over thread closed